Heimdall could have been fixed very easily. In Norse mythology, nine women came together and used their magic to create him, as they all wanted a child. This infusion of magic gave him his powers. Imagine him being a parallel to Loki - lots of magic, keen mind, but due to having an extremely supportive family, he's well-adjusted. Show us Loki envying Heimdall's nine loving parents in one of the two first Thor movies, the hurt he feels knowing he'll never have multiple loving parents, only one. Boom. Now when Ragnarok happens Heimdall has real stakes - his mothers are in Asgard, but do they all get out in the evacuation? - and the audience has some sympathy for him because his parents could be dead, an extremely relatable fear. Something you pointed out in the Hela section that really sums up why this movie doesn't work is the humor undercutting everything. Every moment of badassery, of emotion, or of gravity just gets ripped apart by the need to keep shoving in quips every five seconds. It feels like nobody in this movie cares much about their lives, the lives of others, or things as big as planets blowing up. So why should the audience care? It would've been so good to use Loki as someone helping Thor be his best self, showing his intelligence. Have Thor be furious at Hela and be about to do something brash and stupid, but Loki stops him and points out that the last time Thor let his anger get the better of him it nearly caused a war. Have him, with some self-deprecation, note that only when the Avengers worked together and communicated a plan did they manage to stop him. Thor learns, we see him value his brother's opinion, and we see a glimpse of how powerful they could be working together. Thor going from golden retriever to yappy chihuahua will always make me sad. I love Thor. He's a gentle giant warrior with a heart of gold, and then he's a joking himbo who doesn't care about anything or anyone. And him committing an act of torture... yeah, it's creepy that people even need to have it explained why that's not okay. Waititi should not be allowed to direct anything that isn't a comedy. He's just simply not up to the task. Most fanfic writers are by the time they hit 13, but he is not.

Haven't watched the full video yet, but excited to hear someone who agrees with me about how Thor and Loki's characterisation was butchered.

This video is astonishingly, criminally underrated. As a huge MCU Thor and Loki fan, I remember being so hyped for Ragnarok upon seeing the trailers. Went to the theaters with family, fully expecting an amazing viewing experience, and man… I was let down. Something about the first few minutes of the movie during which Waititi parodies the first two Thor movies in the play Loki was watching, really put a bad taste in my mouth that stayed with me for the rest of the film. The flippancy and disdain shown towards Thor I and II, the fact that they were being openly mocked, just really felt like a middle finger to the franchise and to longtime fans. I get that those movies are by no means masterpieces, but still. The constant jokes (many of which- especially those making light of mental health and addiction- weren’t even funny), lack of emotional/tense moments due to said constant jokes, and character assassinations of basically every character (why is Loki suddenly so useless? why is Thor suddenly an asshole? etc.) really killed the movie for me. Given how lauded Ragnarok is, I’ve always felt like the odd one out for disliking it, so this video was very affirming for me. It took all of my issues with the film (and many more I hadn’t had prior but do now- like with Gungnir being able to open the Bifrost, never noticed that plot hole before!) and put them into an eloquently-worded, deliciously long video essay that made me both seethe at how terrible of a sequel Ragnarok really is, and grieve for the sequel it could have been. Your proposal for how Ragnarok “should have gone” was fantastic, and would have closed the Thor trilogy in such a powerful, emotionally fulfilling way. The ending Thor, Loki, and Hela truly deserved 😭. Anyways, enough of brain-dumping my thoughts into the YT comments- absolutely adore your vid, I already know that it’s gonna become of those video essays I like to replay numerous times during drawing sessions or while cleaning, and I can’t wait to check out your other Marvel vids!

I loved this film the first time i watched it, but the more and more i actually think about it, the more i realise that its actually just pretty milquetoast as a movie. As a fan of both Taita Waititi and Loki, its easily the worst Waititi film ive ever seen (i didnt see Love and Thunder). And everything after dark world has been pretty mid loki-wise. This film on the whole is pretty much toxic masculinity as a movie. I doubt its intentional however, as i dont think much thought went into the making of this film anyway.

this video gives me hope people are still capable of media literacy and critical thinking 😆 you’ve covered every issue flawlessly! your run down on what Ragnarok could have been even made me a bit emotional 🥹